


An Old Man & His Frosting Obsession

by ceeloilights



Category: Green Lantern - All Media Types, The Flash - All Media Types
Genre: An Old Man He Is, Barrithday Has Come Once More, Cake decorating, Fluff, Happy Birthday Barry!, Just Sugar, M/M, No Plot, Stealing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-19
Updated: 2021-03-19
Packaged: 2021-03-28 20:08:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,459
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30144915
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ceeloilights/pseuds/ceeloilights
Summary: Hal's trying to decorate a cake but the local frosting fugitive has a sweet tooth and no mercy.
Relationships: Barry Allen/Hal Jordan
Comments: 12
Kudos: 20





	An Old Man & His Frosting Obsession

**Author's Note:**

> It's Barry's birthday, and since he's a speedster I decided he shall be full of sugar. He deserves to treats himself.  
> Enjoy!

"Barry."

The speedster guiltily glanced up at the brown eyes staring down at him.

"Hi..." he merely said, letting the spoon slip from his mouth.

"Where's all the frosting?" Hal raised an eyebrow, fully knowing where the decorative cream had gone.

"I donno..." the blond answered in a weak voice, placing his spoon into the container.

"What's, uh--whatcha got there in your hands?"

Barry let the question linger a second longer than it needed to, then turned his body away from Hal.

"Barry-!" A hand came and grabbed at his shoulder, "I told you not to eat the frosting! That's why I bought you two jumbo jars of peanut butter!"

"Yeah...but peanut butter isn't sweet..." Barry meekly replied as he slowly placed back on the lid of the frosting can, as if Hal wasn't sitting in front of him, watching the whole thing.

"The hell am I supposed to do now? Coat the cake in peanut butter?" Hal let go of Barry's shoulder and ran a tired hand through his hair.

In actuality, he wasn't extremely upset that the frosting was all gone. He just wished the speedster would've at least had the decency to ask for a spoonful or two. Then again, by the looks of the nearly empty frosting container, it didn't seem like Barry just took one or two scoops of frosting.

"I can buy some more if you want..." Barry glanced down at the canister, reading the label, "It's just plain vanilla frosting, it's not that hard to find in the grocery store."

"No, it's okay, I'll just get the other one I hid from you." the brunette got up just as a smirk grew on his face.

"What?!"

Hal snickered, turning to make his way into the kitchen, while Barry hopped onto his feet.

“You have another one?” 

Shooting a sly grin back at the speedster before turning back around, Hal knew that was all he had to do to answer him. 

"What was the point of you getting upset at me when you had no reason to?!" the speedster followed him to the kitchen, bringing his spoon into the nearly-empty container to wipe off the remainder of the frosting.

Pulling open the freezer door, Hal fetched the frozen frosting container from the back of the freezer, covered up by ice trays and bags of frozen vegetables.

"You ate my burger last week. I had to get you back somehow!" 

"I thought you were okay with it! You didn't say anything when you saw me eating it!"

"That's because I was too tired to say anything." Hal admitted, handing Barry the frozen container, "Can you warm this up?"

"You could've just said 'Are you serious?' and I would've gotten the hint!" Barry huffed, placing the empty frosting container onto the kitchen counter, holding his spoon between his teeth, he grabbed the new container and rolled it between the palms of his hands.

"Yeah, like all the other times I told you to stop eating my food, and yet every time I went to eat my food it wasn't there?" Hal grabbed the spatula and moved to place it on the table beside the cooling cake.

An undignified noise escaped from Barry’s throat from around the neck of the spoon, garnering a chuckle from the brunette, who made a move to remove the utensil from his mouth.

"You can't even blame me for that!” Barry said once Hal had pulled the spoon from his mouth, “You put it in the fridge, I just assume it’s free rein!" Rubbing at the container, he slowly began warming it up as his hands started to vibrate a bit.

"Do I need to put my food in a bag and label it?" Hal countered, hovering his free hand over the cake to see if it was still steaming before dragging a chair toward himself, he seated himself, "Last time I checked, this is a house I share with you. Not an office job I work at that has separate refrigerators for personal foods and foods that I want to share.”

“You don’t specify what foods you do and do not want me to eat.” Barry retorted, vibrating his hand around the plastic container before removing it and rubbing it firmly against his jeans to warm up his palms.

“Well I would assume you know by now, the food I pick out at the store is mine.” Hal pointed the spoon at Barry, watching as he placed his hand on the can and vibrated ever-so-slightly.

“That’s not even fair, I pay for half the food you throw in the cart.”

“That’s not my problem,” Hal smirked, leaning back in his chair, he barely caught sight of a few bolts of light jumping over the container before fizzling out, just as quickly as they came.

“Say that again when I “accidentally” leave my wallet at home and  _ you  _ have to pay for the groceries.” Barry spat, though Hal knew better to be offended, there was no heat behind any of what they were saying, and they both knew it. He just smiles at Barry as he watches his pale hands roam around the – rather small – frosting can. 

Hal would’ve gotten a bigger one if he didn’t know he was going to get two giant jars of peanut butter to satisfy Barry’s everlasting craving for food, he just assumed the speedster would’ve gotten to the big frosting container last. Though it probably would’ve been smarter to hide the bigger frosting jar… 

Of course, he thinks about this now rather than earlier.

Hal eyed Barry as he popped the frosting lid off, looking at it to make sure it wasn’t frozen, then threw Hal a devilish grin before moved the can into one hand and wiggled the pointer finger of his other hand, making it seem like he was going to scoop out some frosting with his finger.

“Hey!” Hal pulled himself from the chair’s backrest to pretend to hit Barry’s wrist with the spoon he was holding, “At least take your spoon if you're gonna steal some frosting!”

That roused a mischievous giggled from the blond, handing Hal the opened container in trade for his utensil.

“How come I had to warm up the frosting with my speed, we have a microwave.” 

Grabbing the empty frosting canister on the counter, Barry tossed it away after he made sure every last trace of sweet, sugary frosting in there was wiped out. Taking a seat beside the Lantern, Barry licked away at his spoon as his eyes followed the spatula in Hal’s hand, softly dolloping all of the cream on top of the cake with two trips back and forth from container to cake to empty it.

“Payback,” Hal simply said, licking a blotch of frosting that managed to land on his finger, handing Barry the container so he could clean out the can. In reality, the way Barry warmed up the frost was much more even and gave the frosting a better consistency for spreading, but he wasn’t going to let the speedster have that credit after he just ate an entire container of frosting that Hal was going to use.

“For what? You already made your point.” Barry peered into the canister. This frosting was chocolate, a giant contrast to the vanilla one Barry just lapped up from his utensil. 

Hal caught his eyes as Barry placed the curved part of the spoon over his tongue, making the brunette grin before he looked back at the cake, smoothing down the pile of frosting. “For all the other times you stole my food.”

“Come on, I’m not that bad.” 

Hal laughed at that but didn’t say anything, letting Barry interpret the laugh on its own, knowing he knew exactly what it meant. Pressing the frosting down, he paused, squinting at the cake as he was skeptical of it. 

He was supposed to make this layered, huh?

“Dammit.” he breathed, attracting Barry’s attention again.

“Huh?” he hummed around the spoon.

“Didn’t plan this well,” he answered, placing his spatula down to go find a knife, “I needa make this a  _ layered  _ cake.”

Hal heard Barry snort in amusement as he slid open a cabinet to find a knife. Rinsing it off, he wiped it dry and hobbled back to the table. Turning the object in his hand with his fingers, he tilted his head and looked at it as if he’s never seen a knife before, then brought it near the table, crouching down to be at eye-level with the cake.

He placed the blade beside the cake, asking, “You think this is even?”

Angling his head down with the spoon still protruding from his mouth, Barry flapped his hand, motioning Hal to lower the knife a little. The Lantern did just that, gradually dropping the knife until Barry made a curt noise and his palms came up.

“Are you sure? It looks kinda uneven.”

A reassuring “mhm” made Hal look up at the speedster, doubt gleaming in his eyes before they shot back down to the side of the cake. 

Very carefully, Hal positioned the knife back to where he believed the middle of the cake was and pushed the blade into it before he felt Barry move closer towards him, then around until he had enough space to bend down and look at the cake at Hal’s perspective. Next thing he knew, Barry took Hal’s hand and moved it a little upwards, making the brunette roll his eyes, maneuvering his head to see over Barry’s arm.

“It doesn’t need to be perfect,” Hal mumbled, letting Barry guide his hand to make the cut.

He heard Barry pull the spoon from his mouth with a slight suction noise, “You’re the one who asked.” 

“Yeah, for a thumbs up or something, not this.”

“Then don’t ask next time,” Barry replied, some sass dripping from his tongue as he slowly moved Hal’s hand back and forth to evenly cut the cake in half. His brows narrowed in concentration, paying no attention to how Hal’s hand went nearly limp in his own.

Once it was sliced, Barry stood up just to look down at it with a pleased grin, turning to face Hal who was also straightening out. “Need any more help?"

He gained an unamused glare from the brunette, making him chuckle as he licks the rest of the frosting from his spoon, going to sit back down in his chair.

“Well if you  _ insist _ ...” 

Slumping back in his seat, Barry raised a curious eyebrow as he rested his elbow on the chair’s backrest, making a grab for the chocolate frosting container to scrape off some more chocolate.

“You could just help me make this whole cake, so I don’t needa to do anything.”

This time, both of Barry’s brows sprung up, but his eyes gave the message that he would royally screw it up purposefully just to have Hal give him an exasperated look before he hastily remade a new cake. Moving slowly, Barry placed the spoon back into his mouth as they entered a stare-off, Hal going to place his hand on the backrest of his own chair, leaning on his arm as if he were saying he could do this all day.

They stared at each other for a few seconds, Barry slanting his head as he began to realize they were having a staring contest, and just as he realized what was going on Hal blinked.

“Fuck.” he blurted, ending the contest to get back to work on the cake.

The unnecessary profanity made Barry chortle happily, looking back down at his container. Cleaning the spoon once more, Barry went back to wipe the last trace of frosting from the can, peering up to find Hal struggling to move the top layer.

“You–uh…” Barry breathed out a laugh before he could finish, receiving a dirty look from Hal, and making him bite his tongue before he could make another remark. But, after a few more seconds of observing Hal’s struggle as he enjoyed his treat, the blond heard a defeated sigh, and brown eyes met blue ones.

“Can you…” his eyes dropped to the cake before glancing back to silently ask for help.

Barry knew Hal enough to not push him to directly ask, not right now anyway. Getting back up, Barry lightly bumped his hip with his own to get Hal to make room for him, earning a hip bump of his own from the brunette, who was now wearing a growing, playful grin, his tongue poking from behind his teeth.

Barry broke their eye contact to look around the table. “We need another plate.” 

Speeding around, he grabbed a clean plate, quickly placing the spoon in the sink and adding a second empty frosting container to the trash. Racing back to the table, he placed the plate down and instructed Hal to lift one side of the cake on the count of three.

Once the piece was moved, Barry exaggerated his movement to wipe his brow, acting like the action was extremely difficult, adding a loud “Whew!” before Hal rolled his eyes, yet his grin was still firm on his face. Hal gave him another bump with his side, this time with more force, making it so the blond nearly stumbles back into his seat.

“We get it, you can do anything.” Hal sighed, a hint of fondness in there. He grabbed back his spatula, wiping the residual frosting onto the cake, Hal went to seize one of those giant peanut butter jars he bought and scooped a giant heaping of butter from the jar, trying his best to get it to stick onto the cake.

Barry had to bite his lip to stop a smile from growing on his face, still, Hal noticed.

“What now, Mr. Perfect?”

Barry waved his hand in dismissal, trying to hold back his smirk, “Nothing, nothing…”

Hal left a hole of silence, knowing the quietness would stir the speedster into talking again, and as he predicted…

“...just didn’t know you wanted to clog someone’s arteries.” 

“Alright,” Hal scoffed, trying to smooth out the peanut butter, “Well,  _ maybe _ , if  _ someone  _ didn’t eat all the frosting, I wouldn’t have to resort to murder.”

“You literally have a whole dollop of frosting on the top piece, just use that.” Barry pointed out, crossing his arms as if to rest his case.

Hal went still for a moment, looking back and forth from the cake to the speedster then went back to smooth out the peanut butter, “It’s only enough to cover the outside of the cake.”

“Uh-huh, okay,” Barry remarked, an affectionate grin gracing his face, one that was shared with the Lantern.

That ended the conversation, Hal opting to silently work on the cake, only talking again to ask Barry to help place the top layer back on, and afterward, the speedster offhandedly mentioned how Hal could’ve used his ring the entire time, gaining a tired look from the brunette. Nevertheless, Hal went back to decorating the cake now that it was assembled, quietly asking himself what he was to do with the extra frosting he couldn’t properly smooth onto the cake. He ended up resorting to gathering it all up on the rubber spatula and gave it to Barry, throwing a “Shut up…” at the blond who mocked him on “It’s only enough to cover the outside of the cake.”.

The cake still didn’t look finished yet. 

Rummaging around in the cabinets, Hal found a container of sprinkles all the way in the back, which seemed to be untouched. That would be a nice touch, but Hal knew there was something else that went on a cake.

Oh, that’s right, domesticated fire.

Did they have any birthday candles? Have they ever bought birthday candles? Scouring the kitchen and finding nothing that resembled a birthday candle that could light, his excessive searching got Barry’s attention, as five minutes in, he asked, “You looking for something?”

“Do we have candles?” he lifted his head from a cabinet, “Like, candles that go on a cake?”

“Uh… I don’t think so? All we have are those menorah candles.”

“Huh…” Hal thought out loud, taking a pause to bring his hand to his chin, “Would it be disrespectful to use those candles just for a birthday?”

Barry gave Hal a bewildered look, silently mouthing some words before pursing his lips, then he breathed out a laugh, “I don’t know, you’re the Jewish one here.”

“Yeah…” Hal sighed, looking back down into the cabinet, this time with disappointment. A few seconds went by before he looked back up, and Barry could almost see a lightbulb blink to life above his head. “Don’t we have a candle in the bathroom?”

Barry knitted his brows in confusion once more, “No…”

“Damn.”

Licking the corners of his lips, Barry stared down at the frosting as he tried to think, “Maybe you can find a candle in the hallway closet? I throw some random stuff in there sometimes, maybe I threw a candle in there.”

Placing a hand on his knee, Hal grunted as he pushed himself up on his feet, and went to make his way towards the closet, hearing Barry quietly murmur, “Getting old.” as he passed by.

Hal thwacked him on the back, just missing his shoulder blade, “I heard that.”

“Ow…” he snickered, rubbing in the area where Hal struck, then shrugging halfheartedly, “Not my fault you’re making dad noises.”

“Not like we’d know anything about it,” he commented, catching himself sharing Barry’s smile. Barry turned back to face the table after that, his laugh fading before Hal entered the hallway. 

“Right,” Hal said to himself, opening the closet door, peeking inside, and switching on the light to see anything that could be used as a candle. Quickly spotting the relatively small menorah he had compared to the one he’d see at Jim’s place, beside it were its candles. Some strings littered the bottom selves as well as some on the ground, while some extra towels, blankets, and a single pillow sat neatly on the top shelf. His eyes scanned through the items, a vase, some tape rolls, a broken pair of scissors, a random cap to a water bottle, and some marbles in a mesh bag. Reaching up to move the marbles revealed a jar, one that had some purple colored wax inside.

_ Bingo! _

Snatching it off the shelf, he wiped off the dust and turned it around in his hand. 

“Lemon-lavender.” Hal read out loud. He had no idea they had a lemon-lavender scented candle. Looking back up, he shifted the items to see if he could find any more, unfortunately not, but at least he spotted this one, shutting the door, Hal moved back to the kitchen.

Well, it’s not a birthday candle, but it’ll do.

“Did you know we had a lemon-lavender candle?” Hal announced his arrival with a question, placing the candle in front of the speedster to let him examine it as Hal went to fetch the sprinkle bottle he found, forgetting where he placed it.

Where did he put it? He knew for certain he found a container with sprinkles. 

“Oh yeah, I remember buying this.” Barry nodded at the scent, lapping up the last of the frosting from the spatula, “I sometimes wonder where it had gone.”

“Aha!” 

“Hmm?” looking up from the jar, Barry saw the brunette’s head emerge from the same cabinet he was looking in prior to looking for a candle.

“Sprinkles!” Hal sang, shaking a container of sprinkles and doing a little happy dance before laughing at himself. Quickly grabbing a packet of matches on his way towards the table, he flipped open the cap and rained colorful pieces of sugar onto the cake, most of them stuck to the frosting, others landed on the table, and some jumped right off. “Okay,” Hal shallowly dipped his head as if very consciously telling himself what to do. Taking the matches, he struck one to ignite a flame and lit the wick.

Barry watched Hal blow out the match while smiling brightly to himself, grabbing the spatula out of Barry’s hand to throw it into the sink, and returned the matches to their home. The blond unsure of what he was doing, but nothing too extraordinary to make him question Hal’s actions. He snatched two forks, and two plates to place beside the cake, then took back his seat, his face softly illuminated orange by the flame. 

Hal moved the candle in front of Barry, and the cake just next to it, getting a raised eyebrow from the speedster.

“Happy birthday, you old man, make a wish.”

**Author's Note:**

> Kudos, comments, & constructive criticism are always welcome!  
> Thanks to Isaac for trying to help me find a title!  
> Hope y'all enjoy Barry's birthday, and remember, don't eat a full container of frosting, you're not Barry, your stomach will hurt.


End file.
